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After your server has become corrupted or doesn’t start anymore or hardware died it would be nice if there is a simple way to restore the whole server. This is how it works with the build in server backup program.

What you need is you’re SBS 2011 dvd or iso and a successful windows server backup. In this blog post (click here) I described how to configure the sbs server backup.

If you have a hardware error fix this first. Then start the server from your SBS dvd or iso.

Choose your language and next to continue

Now we choose Repair your computer

If you are restoring to same hardware and the old installation is still on that disks you will see this here and can try to use the recovery tools before you are going to do a full restore.
If you use a storage controller that has to load additional drivers then choose Load drivers before you continue.

In this case we are going to restore to complete new disks so there can be found no earlier installation. Choose next.

If you got an error make sure you have connect the device with your sbs server backup on it.
Choose if you would like to use the last available backup or select another backup.

Now you can choose if you would exclude disks to restore to, install drivers for you storage controller if your disk aren’t detected or choose to only restore system drives from your backup.
Choose next to continue

An overview what will be restored. Choose Finish

Another warning that your disks will be formatted and all data on i twill be lost. Choose Yes to continue.

Now the restore is in progress, this can take a while depending your hardware and amount of data. After restore is finished the server will reboot automatically. When you first logon it could take a while before everything is started successful please be patient.

You now have successful restored your SBS 2011 server.

Go directly to SBS 2011 index file. With links to all articles from this serie.

After we are finished with Part 12 Configuring “Add a new user account” we go to add a new computer to our network. We go to the computer we would like to add to the network and start an internet browser. (In this case it is a Windows 7 machine with internet explorer 8.)

In the address bar of the browser we type: http://connect

The following page will open:

The webpage further describes what you can expect.

We are going to continue and click on Start Connect Computer Program

Now you will get a security warning, you can safely choose Run to continue

Choose Yes to continue

If you get this error “An error occurred during the download of Connect Computer. Please go to http://connect and try again. ” read here

Make sure you have already created the user account on the SBS server. Now we are going to add the user logged on to this computer, choose Set up this computer for myself.

If something doesn’t meet the requirements, try to solve the problem and start over. If everything is alright choose next to continue.

Enter you username and password. If you’re just a user and don’t know for sure, ask your network administrator for the username and password.

Give your client computer a name (default it will use the name already given to the computer) and you may enter a description.

The wizard can move your existing data to your domain account so you don’t have to move those files manually.

You have to confirm the data will be moved to the new domain account.

The wizard will now have to restart en will continue / finish when you log on again.

You have successful add the computer to your network.

Go back to Part 12 Configuring “Add a new user account”
Continue with Part 14 Configuring “Add a new report”

When you try to connect a client computer to your Small Business Server 2008 or 2011 network via the http://connect you get “Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage” or the wizard stops with error: “An error occurred during the download of Connect Computer. Please go to http://connect and try again.”

Both problems had to do with DNS issues. In my case I had configured the client with static TCP/IP settings (IP address and DNS) instead of using the dhcp settings. To solve the problem I had to enter the sbs domain name in my network settings properties on the DNS tab, to append the DNS suffix like below.

After adding this, the connect computer program worked fine.

Just back from a little trip and cleaning up my mailbox I found a email with the subject: “Your online community contributi​ons have been recognized by Microsoft”. Curious reading on the email continues:

Dear Ronny,

The Microsoft Community Contributor Award is reserved for participants who have made notable contributions in Microsoft online community forums such as TechNet, MSDN and Answers. The value of these resources is greatly enhanced by participants like you, who voluntarily contribute your time and energy to improve the online community experience for others.

Thanks Microsoft giving me this award! I am really proud receiving this award!

Go directly to SBS 2011 index file. With links to all articles from this serie.

After we are finished with Part 11 Configuring “Add a new user role” we go to the “Users and Groups” page of the SBS console and then the Users tab.

First we are going to create a new user account, choose “Add a new user account” in the task pane

Fill all fields with necessary information. All fields except Description and Phone number are required. At User role: you choose the role this user fits the most.
You can always change settings and user role later if you would like to.

Enter a password for this user, please note the password requirements.

The user account has been created successfully. You can now assign an existing computer or add a new computer. This last option has to be done on the new to add computer I will come back to that option in a later part.

When we choose Finish and return to the SBS console, we can right click a user to change all given settings.

Note!! When you are going to update the user role connected to this user all manually changed settings are lost. So think about this before changing settings to a user role.

Another nice option is to create a user set all options you would like and then choose “Add a new user role based on this user account’s properties” to create a new user role based on the settings and membership given to this particular user.

We can also add multiple user accounts at once, choose add multiple user accounts.

First choose the user role you would to connect to all the new users. Choose Add… for all users you would like to create.

Enter all necessary fields and choose OK to add the user. Repeat this for all users you would like to create. At the end choose Add user accounts to really create the user accounts.

All user accounts have been created successful. Choose Finish so we return to the SBS Console.

Another option we can do here is to change the user role for user accounts.

Choose the user role you want to add and choose if you would like to Replace or Add user permissions or settings. Note that if you choose replace all settings and membership are changed to the user role. So if the user you are going to change is already member of groups which are not part of the new user role, the will be removed from those groups.

Select the users you would like to change the user role and choose Add >> and Change user role.

User role has been changed successfully. Choose Finish to return to the SBS console.

Another option we can change is Change password policy.

These are the default settings, you can change them to your own discretion.
Please note that users will have to change their password if it doesn’t fit the new requirements anymore.

Last option on the Users tab of the SBS console is to Redirect folders for user accounts to the server.

Select the folders you want to redirect to the server. If you have enabled folder redirection on a user role then by default these folder are redirected for the users who have that particular role.

Now the users with the checkmark are member of a user role where folder redirection is enabled. But you can add folder redirection for other user manual here.

Go back to Part 11 Configuring “Add a new user role”
Continue with Part 13 Configuring “Connect a computer to your network”

Go directly to SBS 2011 index file. With links to all articles from this serie.

After we are finished with Part 10 Configuring “Add a new group” we go to the “Users and Groups” page of the SBS console and then the Users Roles tab.

A user role is a sort of template set of rights, group member ship and some default settings. You can use the roles to control rights, membership and settings for a group of user accounts. Also as template for creation of new user accounts so the account will have a default set of rights, membership and settings.

By default there are 3 user roles configured, Standard User, Network Administrator and Standard User with administration links. You can change or create user roles as you like.

We are going to create a new user role, choose “Add a new user role” in the task pane.

Give the user role a logical name and description. Then you have to choose if you would like to base the new role on an existing role or start from scratch.
Check “The user role appears as an option in the Add New User Account Wizard and in the Add Multiple New User Accounts Wizard” if you would like to use the new user role or uncheck if you will not give the new user role free for now.
Check “The user role is the default in the Add New User Account Wizard and in the Add Multiple New User Accounts Wizard” If you would like this role default for creation of new users.

Choose Add to add the security and distribution groups user who get this role must be member of.

Now we can choose to enforce a mailbox quota and the size of the quota or to turn off the mailbox quota. Also we can configure if members may access Outlook Web Access.

Here we can configure if these users may or may not have Remote Web Access or Virtual private network (VPN) access.

Configure if the users may or may not have Quota on Shared Folders. Also you can enable folder redirection to the server, when enabled, the local (my) documents and desktop folder will be synchronized to the server. You can choose to put a Quota on this folder as well.

The new user role was added successfully. You can now choose to directly create (multiple) new user accounts. For now we choose finish, Add a new user account will follow in the next part.

Go back to Part 10 Configuring “Add a new group”
Continue with Part 12 Configuring “Add a new user account”

Go directly to SBS 2011 index file. With links to all articles from this serie.

After we are finished with Part 9 Configuring “Add a new shared folder” we go to the “Users and Groups” page of the SBS console and then the Groups tab.

In the next parts we are going to create User Groups, Roles and Accounts. My advice is to start with the creation of User Groups because these groups can be used with the creation of User Roles. User Roles are a set of rights, membership and settings that can be attached to User Accounts.

Choose “Add a new group” on the tasks pane.

The wizard starts with an overview about what we are going to do.

Give the group a logical name and description. Then decide if the group is a Distribution group (used to send an e-mail message to all user accounts that belong to this group) or a Security group (used to set security and access right to files, folders and/or applications). It’s also possible to mail-enable the security group so this can also be user to send email to all members.

Add immediately user accounts as members of the group.

The new group has been created.

Now we return to the SBS Console. If you would like to change some settings, you can choose in the (right) Tasks pain.

Choose Edit group properties.

On the General part, you can change the group name or description. Also you can choose Add… to add new group members.

On the E-mail part, you can enable or disable (in case of a Security group) and set or change a e-mail address for the group and set the option receive or not receive e-mails from people outside of your organization. In the case of a security group you also have the possibility to archive the e-mail in a public folder.

Go back to Part 9 Configuring “Add a new shared folder”
Continue with Part 11 Configuring “Add a new user role”

As microsoft already released documentation about migrating from SBS 2003 to SBS 2011, now they released some more migration scenarios. Here a overview of al released scenarios:

Migrate to Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard from Windows Small Business Server 2003

Migrate to Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard from Windows Small Business Server 2008

Migrate Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard to New Hardware

Move all SharePoint Foundation 2010 databases for Windows SBS 2011 Standard to another server

Exchange 2007 (no-SP, SP1 and SP2) isn’t supported on Windows 2008 R2, but since SP3 it is. As my installation disc / iso only contains Exchange 2007 SP1 I had to install first this iso and then directly update it to SP3.

Installations looks to go well. But first got a warning on the hub transport: “Setup cannot detect an SMTP or Send connector with an address space of ‘*’.”.

This warning could be ignored, the only thing we have to do after installation is create a SMTP connector, more information about this read here.

But at the end of the installation the Mailbox Role Failed with error: “An error occurred. The error code was 3221684229. The message was Access is denied..”

Solution:
To get the Mailbox Role installed we have to set the compatibility mode from the exchange setup.exe to Windows Server 2008 (Service Pack 1) and run the setup again and add the Mailbox Role.

Now installation goes fine.

After you finished the installation please update Exchange 2007 directly to SP3.

Go directly to SBS 2011 index file. With links to all articles from this serie.

After we are finished with Part 8 Configuring “POP3 connector” we go to the “Shared Folders and Web Sites” page of the SBS console and the Shared Folders tab.

Choose “Add a new shared folder” on the tasks pane.

Now we are going to select a folder we would like to share, choose Browse.

Browse to the folder you would like to share. If you have not created a folder yet, you can create one with Make New Folder.

After we selected the folder, you can choose to do or do not change the NTFS permissions. If you already set them you can skip these by choosing No. I have not set the permissions so we choose for Yes, change NTFS permissions and choose Edit Permissions…

By default the file permissions are set to Administrator and System have Full Control access, Users only Read & Execute and Creator Owner may create files and folders. This means everyone can create files and folders but only change the ones created by them. Others can only read those files, so we gave the Users group Modify rights so everyone can change files and folders.

Now we are going to give the share a name, in this case we haven’t installed NFS so we are not able to set this. Just give the share an appropriate name, if you add a $ sign at the end of the share name it will be a hidden share and not visible if someone browse the network.

Here we are able to set some additional features, so choose Advanced…

On the User Limits tab we can limit the number of users that can access the share, default value is maximum allowed. The other option we can set is access-based enumeration, this is a really nice option, when this is enabled users only see folders if they have access permissions.

On the Caching tab you can set if and how files are available for offline caching.

Now we are going to configure the share permissions. Just keep in mind that when you set the share permissions to only read access, you only have read access on the files and folders, no matter what you have configured (modify or owner) over there.
If the default options don’t fit, you can choose Users and groups have custom share permissions: and choose Permissions…

By default the share permissions are set to Read, if people must modify files and folders you have to check Change.

You can apply quota settings to the share, there are six default quota policies defined. But you can create or edit these as you like, you have to do this via the File Server Resource Manager.

This is a nice feature you can apply a file screen to a share and block typical files. So if you have a data only share you can choose to block executable files for security reasons. There are five default file screens available, you can create or edit these screens via the File Server Resource Manager.

If you have configured a DFS namespace you can publish the share to the DFS namespace.

An overview of the options you have chosen, choose Create to create the share.

You have successfully created a network share.

Go back to Part 8 Configuring “POP3 connector”
Continue with Part 10 Configuring “Add a new group”